Sunday, April 18, 2010

My Beau and I had a seriously busy day yesterday. First stop, estate sale. We dragged ourselves out of bed early enough to get there for the good stuff. We mostly went for the books. My Beau loves old books and this sale had a great collection of old books. We browsed them, but the couple who owned the house were serious antique collectors and they were a little out of our price range. No worries though, my Beau found a fantastic roasting pan for $3! Score. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with a roasting pan. Being a veggie eater myself I've never made a roast, but my Beau being a meat eater is very excited about the prospect. Guess I better call up my Mom and get a recipe. I think a roast is a great excuse to have friends over.

After the sale we went to a social gathering and I brought these!

Got the recipe from Jenn and they were a huge hit. There's something really fun and wonderful about making tiny food cookies. I got to get my craft on and eat delicious cookies. Win win I'd say!

I also managed to find some cute magenta jersey fabric. I recently came into possession of several vintage patterns and the magenta seemed perfect for a fabulous shirt dress, circa 1967. I'll upload some pictures as that progresses. But first, what's the best way to make a vintage dress? Using this machine of course! I want to introduce you to what I affectionately call my Old Lady, at least until I can think of a more fitting name.

I picked this baby off of Craigs list on the cheap and it is a beast! Remember my love for old ugly retro things? She's not pretty, but she probably weighs a good 15 pounds. She's amazingly stable and I just love looking at her. There were other machines on the list, but when I found my Old Lady it was love at first sight. Look at those knobs! That fabulous yellow color! How could I leave her out there on her own, without someone to love her?

Aside from her good looks there's just something about making vintage dresses on a vintage machine. I feel like I'm channeling my grandmother when I use this machine. I wonder if this was how my grandmother felt when she made all her clothing, her husband's clothing and all the clothing for 5 kids.

They really don't make them like they used to. My Old Lady is belt driven (you can sort of see the belt around the back there) and still has her two prong electrical plug. Nothing fancy, no crazy stitches or electronics. Just good old fashion sewing. She's slow, but she's determined. If she breaks, she's easy to fix. This is true sewing machine love right here.

And to round out the weekend, I got a new shipment of herbs in.

I'm very anti-bulk bin. They're dirty, the food is often old, and can very easily infested with bugs. The only local herb shop around only sells herbs in bulk, so I'm forced to order online and waste all sorts of plastics and shipping materials. I'm sorry earth friendlys, I'd rather have nice clean herbs that are all mine. Don't believe that bulk bins are nasty filthy things? Head on over to Love Veggies and Yoga and check out her thoughts on the subject.